Fire destroys abandoned Hazleton building

JAMIE PESOTINE / Times-Shamrock
The Hazleton Fire department was dispatched just before 2 a.m. Sunday for a structure fire that destroyed an abandoned building on McKinley Street and damaged neighboring homes.

HAZLETON - Investigators sifted through the remains of a vacant building devastated by a ferocious fire early Sunday morning as one family went through personal belongings, retrieving anything left in the home that had sentimental value.

The fire began at a condemned duplex converted into apartments at 590-592 McKinley St., consuming a building that several neighbors have complained about in recent years. The fire then spread and damaged two neighboring buildings: a single home at 586 McKinley St. and a duplex at 594-596 McKinley St.

The cause of the blaze has been listed as undetermined pending further investigation by Hazleton firefighters, city police and a state police fire marshal, Fire Chief Donald Leshko said.

Leshko said no injuries were reported, though a total of 16 people were displaced and are being assisted by the American Red Cross.

It was about 2 a.m. when Luzerne County 911 dispatched firefighters to 590-592 McKinley St.

As firefighters were en route to the blaze, Hazleton police, who had already made it to McKinley Street, confirmed that the fire was raging.

Within minutes, Leshko said, firefighters were at the home and confronted flames shooting from all three floors in the rear of the home. Fire was also spreading to both neighboring buildings, so crews took an immediate defensive approach to fighting the fire, trying to prevent the blaze from spreading further.

Leshko said every piece of city apparatus was at the fire, including four pumper trucks and two ladder trucks. West Hazleton brought in two pumper trucks and additional manpower. McAdoo Fire also brought additional manpower, he said, while Mahanoy City's Rapid Intervention Team also responded to assist firefighters.

American Patient Transport Systems Inc., also responded.

Firefighters were able to enter both neighboring buildings to stop the flames from causing further damage, Leshko said.

"We gave it our best to minimize damage," he said.

Leshko estimated that it took about one hour to get the fire under control and an additional one to two hours to completely extinguish the intense flames.

"This fire had a tremendous head start on us. In the years I've been fighting fires in the city this one had a tremendous jump start," Leshko said.

He said firefighters did a great job and worked well together to battle the blaze. Most importantly, he said, everyone went home safe.

On Sunday, investigators could be seen from the rear of the property on Liberty Court, sifting through the charred debris in the home's backyard. An accelerant detection dog was requested to assist the investigation.

The rear of 590-592 McKinley was completely burned out, leaving nothing but the charred wood frame, some of which had fallen off the building into the rear yard during the fire. About half of the roof was completely burned away.

Fire damage was also visible at 586 and 594-596 McKinley St., which were deemed uninhabitable until repairs are made.

Neighbor, Kathy Frask said residents have complained to the city about 590-592 McKinley St. for years because of concerns for safety and seeing people wandering in and out of it.

Code Enforcement Officer Rick Wech said the city has handled calls for people squatting inside the building and has repeatedly boarded it up, only to return to the building again for another report of someone being seen inside it.

Though the home was condemned, Leshko said, there was still electric on the third floor.

The building is owned by Lyla Younes of Bringantine, N.J., according to an online property database. She purchased the duplex that sits on .07 acres of land in June 2002 for $45,000, the database states.

It is unknown if the building was insured but Hazleton officials deemed it unsafe Sunday afternoon and began the process to have the building razed through an emergency demolition, planning to seek three quotes to demolish it by today. It was unclear when demolition would begin.

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Maribell Medina rents her half double at 594-596 from owners Elesa and Juan Moreta, of Hazleton. Elesa was at the fire scene to check on her property and tenants while Medina and her relatives wondered what property damage they sustained. Both spoke through an interpreter.

Medina said she was asleep when a next door neighbor returning home from work alerted her family that there was a fire next door. Quickly, Medina and her family, wearing only their pajamas ran outside into the cold morning startled as flames ravaged the neighboring home. She and her family were staying with a friend across the street.

Daisy Diaz and Raul Santiago, who live on Fourth Street, about 30 feet away from the fire, said upon seeing the flames they worried about a retired couple living at 586 McKinley St., not knowing they weren't home at the time of the blaze.

Diaz reported hearing someone screaming, what she described as a "desperate" shrill and then looked out the window and all she saw were orange flames. As she ventured outside, Diaz said worry began to set in.

"It was horrible. It was ugly," she said.

Jack Steiner, now of Harrisburg, said his father built the family home at 586 McKinley St., by hand. Steiner grew up in the home and later moved away, he said, though his parents still live there. His mother and father were out of town when the fire happened.

"And this is what they come home to," Jack said.

Jack, along with other family members helped reclaim items including precious family photographs inside his parents' home once they were allowed in Sunday morning.

Leshko said because of the damage sustained at the vacant building, it poses the potential of falling down.

Other vacant fires

This was the fourth fire in a vacant building in the past few weeks, though officials have not publicly announced a link between any of them:

n April 11: A fire reported around 6 a.m. in an empty apartment building at 115-117 E. Chapel St., Hazleton, was ruled arson.

n April 1: A fire in a vacant apartment building reported around 5:30 p.m. at 201-203 N. Third St. in West Hazleton was ruled arson.

n April 1: A blaze reported at about 6:20 p.m. in a vacant single home at 128 N. Fulton Court, Hazleton, was ruled undetermined.

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